Uhuru orders cabinet to take Covid vaccine

President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed his entire Cabinet and Executive office to get vaccinated against coronavirus. 

This was confirmed by the Chief of Staff in the Office of the President, Nzioka Waita, who said it was vital to lead by example.

Cabinet Secretaries who have not taken the vaccine are now expected to follow suit as well as staff in the executive office of the President.

Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Industrialization, Betty Maina, confirmed that she had been vaccinated.

The president's order is an about-turn from government's recent communication which stated that politicians were not on the priority list to receive the first batch of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines.

Two weeks ago, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said he would not jump the queue to get vaccinated for the virus because he was not a priority.

“I will not take the vaccine until it gets to my turn on the priority list. If I take it before I will be accused of jumping the queue. If I do not take it, I will be accused of not leading by example. So, I am not sure which is which and that is why I have chosen to await my turn. The worst thing that could happen is if a nurse got Covid-19 because I have taken the vaccine meant for her,” Mr Kagwe said.

His comments came as the clergy called on president Kenyatta and members of his cabinet to get their doses of the Covid-19 vaccine publicly in order to reassure Kenyans of its safety.

According to the national Covid-19 vaccine deployment plan, the country was to initiate Phase 1 of innoculation between February and June 2021, targeting 1.25 million people, key among them frontline health workers and other cadres in priority sectors.

Phase II, which will run between July and June 2022, will target the most vulnerable including the elderly and those above 18 years with comorbidities. It targets 9.76 million people.

“To date, we have vaccinated 64,100 persons and the last two days we have had an average of 10,000 vaccinations administered. Over the next two weeks, we aim to be vaccinating over 20,000 people per day,” the ministry said in a tweet Wednesday evening.